Hello everyone!

Hey everyone!

I thought I would just introduce myself to the community. My name is Jon S. and I also write for Jon4Lakers' blog as well as make Youtube videos under the handle Tigercat212.

If you would like to check out my Youtube channel, you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Tigercat212

If I reach 1000 subscribers, I will most likely be giving away an iTunes Gift Card so subscribe!:)

Re: Spring Schedule

Also a response to David's latest video. I am a junior in high school, but its a private school so I don't have much choice in regards to electives or creative scheduling. We also don't go by semesters, but by trimesters (1/3, 1/3, 1/3) and have 2 trimester exam weeks each year (late december, then just before easter) and then a comprehensive exam week in June which covers the entire year of that subject. Trimester exams are 1.5 hours long, 2 a day. Comps are 3 hours long, 1 a day.

SAT II < AP Exams < SAT I < Trimester Exams < Comps

American History I

Standard social studies class. It is an AP-level difficulty course, with a college textbook, but it doesn't go by AP curriculum. Goes from early exploration (1400's) to Reconstruction (1865-ish) and is quite in depth. Not the most exciting class, but doing outlines of the textbook because the brother (it is a Catholic private school run by religious brothers) refuses to give us notes to prepare us for college certainly makes you learn the material. Easy 97% in the first trimester!

Chemistry

Another mandatory course. Its not the cool and interesting biological chemistry that tells you how the body works, but the boring inorganic chemistry that shows you how molecules create compounds. Lots of math, which is good for me because I am a major math geek, and a fairly easy curriculum. 98% for the first trimester.

French III

Third year French consists of mostly oral learning, with emphasis on verbal conversation and lots of listening to actual French people talking. Taught by a weird single old lady who has no control over the class, so the other guys completely ruin any chance of me actually learning the language. 94% for the first trimester

Trigonometry

YES! By far my favorite subject. While the beginning of the school year was mostly algebra review, we are now into the actual trigonometry. Yes, that means sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, and cotangent are commonly used words now, which makes me happier than finding a $20 bill in my pocket! I am a mega math geek, and it is my easiest class! Had a 100% for the 1st trimester.

English III

This is my third year of English, which is almost totally literature. Freshman English was mostly grammar with some literature, sophomore english was an even split between grammar review and literature, and now this year is almost all English Literature. It starts with Beowulf and goes up until the Modern Era, which is around the time of Brave New World. I love to read, so its another of my favorite classes. I had a 99% for the 1st trimester.

Christian Humanism

Some of you may be thinking this is a dumb course, but it is actually more of a philosophical discussion group than a by-the-book memorization course. We just finished learning about formation of conscience and the judgement of the conscience about the moral consequence of an action 2 days ago, and the test was today. I am a philosophile (lover of philosophy) and i scored a 100% on the test. We are starting the works of Flannery O'Connor (whom i despise...) tomorrow and I hope that I don't blow my brains out. I won't go into it now, but i seriously despise her work. I had a 98% for the first trimester.

Well that is my schedule of classes this year. I know that I have a strict schedule, but the course load isn't that bad and my classes are semi-fun most of the time. I would do a video, but my webcam is broken (i need a macbook!!!).

The Simple Life

Don’t you just love the excitement you feel after coming home with a new TV? Driving home in a new car? Opening the box on a new pair of shoes?

I sure do. But, from watching the behavior of myself and my friends I’ve found that the new quickly becomes just another item. The excitement of novelty passes quickly.

As we become wealthier, people seem to be adding more and more things to our homes. We then use our homes, and our treasures, to justify that we have won the game of life. Growing up in a family of pack-rats, I spent many years in my teens and early twenties accumulating stuff. During this time, much of my self-worth was unconsciously associated with the amount of stuff I owned; the brand names, and the latest trends. I spent a lot of money on clothes and stuff that made me feel ‘superior’. They gave me a sense of identity. If I just removed these things without awareness, my ego would have suffered. I had grown so attached to that definition of myself, that my loss would have been much deeper than just the cute sweater.

Not only did I not find myself in all this, I’ve also accumulated a lot of clutter in my living space and my inner space. Ironically, the piles of stuff actually held me back from understanding and inner peace with myself.

We are so eager to fill our homes, yet so disinterested in cleaning it out. As a result, we now require larger spaces, more storage space, and more clutter for the mind. Did you know that there are more self-storage facilities in North America than there are McDonald’s restaurants? We find it difficult to reduce the amount of stuff we own is due to our attachment to these things.

Is Less Really More?

The joy and art of having less while enjoying more of life can be summed up, as follows.

• The Zen of Space - There is beauty in space, but we fail to recognize it because we can’t see through the stuff we own. When we open up physical space in our environment, a tremendous feeling of peace can dwell within us. This is the principle behind Japanese style homes. Beauty in small spaces is the appreciation of minimalism, where less truly is more. We need to understand that space is to be enjoyed, not filled.
• Conserved Energy - Fewer belongings means we have fewer possessions to worry about. I once knew a wealthy young man, who had anything he dreamt of. He had so many expensive things, and he was so afraid of losing them. Much of his energy was devoted to protecting his possessions andtrophies.
• Free Your Space - When we are reminded of something we own but never use, we can impose self-inflicted guilt for leaving it unused. For example, my mother owns a several exercise machines which are rarely used. Each time she sees them, she forces herself to feel guilty. Her guilt eats away at her inner, mental space. Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. By cleaning out and simplifying our outer space, our inner space will open up like a flower.
• Appreciation - The less we have, the more attention we can give those things we own and truly need on a regular basis. Appreciation is the seed for abundance; abundance of the mind and the soul. It’s pretty amazing how little we actually need. When we clear our homes and our lives down to the essentials, we are able to better enjoy that which we do have.

Nothing external to us can give us permanent and true happiness. We actually have all we need to be truly happy within us.

The art of having less but enjoying our lives more, involves a few simple changes in perspective. First, we must understand where our true values lie and focus on them. Then, we must take time to enjoy the simple things, and slow down and see what’s right in front of us.

Apple Gets Busy

Hi everybody, my name is iDillon, aka Dillon Connolly, and I'm a new blog writer for David.

So today Apple released a new version of the iPhone/iPod Touch firmware, v2.2.1. This upgrade just fixes some bugs, such as:

• Safari Instability
• Fixed bug where images downloaded from Mail wouldn't display properly
• Fixed bug where Apple Lossless (ALAC) files would skip during playback

The iPhone baseband also got updated, now at 2.30.03.

Frankly I am surprised it took Apple this long to fix these bugs, because my iPod Touch has been glitching and messing up a lot since the 2.2 update came out.

Also, in related news, Apple has removed the Digital Rights Management from all the songs in the iTunes store. So now we can transfer, burn, and copy any song that we get from the iTunes store, without compromising quality or breaking copyright, which is a big help for people who make mix CD's for gifts or have multiple iPods running with a single iTunes account.

If only they made the upgrade to iTunes Plus free as well.

It’s also easy to upgrade your iTunes library to iTunes Plus. You don’t have to buy the song or albumagain. Just pay the 30¢ per song upgrade price. (Music video upgrades are 60¢ and entire albums can be upgraded for 30 percent of the albumprice.)

Come on Apple, you were going so far! Well, they removed DRM after so long that we can only hope that iTunes Plus becomes free sometime soon!

-iDillon

High Contrast Blue Filter B&W

This is a new image taken with a High Contrast Blue Filter B&W (It's a filter for a DSLR for those who don't know.)

Here's the first shot turnout, and I really like it!

Come check out more of my Photography at http://www.flickr.com/photos/spencerh6